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A Second Look in the Rear-View Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher at Large

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Surprising that among all the wonderful reviews about Mortimer Adler's work on Amazon that this particular book would be neglected. "A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror" was written, Adler explains, because his first autobiography, "Philosopher at Large," was written prematurely at the age of seventy-five! Approaching ninety when he wrote this one, he updates his autobiographical reflections. What's new? For the first time Adler tells us how he managed to write a book a year for a long stretch. Very helpful information. He also discloses other sides of his personality. For the first time, gives a full explanation of his personal religious beliefs. He discloses 10 unexpected rules on how he lived so long and vibrantly, (examples: "Never exercise" -- "Never take money for work you would not do if you did not need the money" -- "Never say `when I die' say `if I die'.) A very important addition is more of the text of his famous 1940 address: "God and the Professors," which he includes because it explains his "deep antipathy for the professorial mentality." Adler lamented the fact that science, philosophy and religion were contained academically in logic-tight compartments ... that scientists, philosophers and teachers of religion have long failed to communicate with one another. Today we know the Aristotelian division of knowledge into separate categories, while making it easier to understand many things, also restricted learning to certain paths. Overspecialization has resulted in a petering out of frontiers and a need to discard reductionism in favor of more synthetic approaches to problems. See one of his contemporaries, psychologist Abraham Maslow's later work, critiquing science, religion and values. There is much more here, written in a refreshing and uncharacteristically light and often amusing style.